“I don’t like the guy, to be honest.” I sighed. “I mean, he gave me a job, which I needed. But he’s a horribly unethical attorney. Last Friday, the last time I saw him”—I wasn’t going to mention that I thought I had seen him talking to Nico in the hospital late Friday night—“he was wearing shorts and a Hawaiian shirt, getting ready to take his grandkids somewhere. He was looking creepy. You know the kind—like you wouldn’t leave children alone with him?”

Marj visibly shuddered, the look on her face unreadable. “What makes you say that?”

“I don’t know. He just looked creepy. And not that there’s anything wrong with this, but he was missing a toe on his left foot. That’s not what made him creepy though.”

Marj’s mouth popped open. “Are you serious? On the left foot? Are you sure?”

“Yeah.” What I didn’t tell her was that I’d dropped my gaze to his foot because I hadn’t been able to look into his eyes after I’d asked him about Daphne Steel being his sister. I hadn’t told any of the Steels about that yet.

Marj jumped off the bed and pulled me up with her. “Oh my God.”

Chapter Eighteen

Talon

I finished the accounts I was working on, sent a detailed e-mail to our accountant and financial manager, and even though it was nearing midnight, I decided to see if Ryan was up. I felt like sharing a drink with my little brother.

I wrote him a quick text, and sure enough, he was up. Sure, come on over, he texted. My brother always welcomed me.

He met me at the front door, wearing his sleeping pants and a T-shirt. “What you doing up so late, Tal?”

“I could ask you the same thing.”

“Not much. Was working on some paperwork.”

“Same here.”

He walked into his family room, and I followed him. He went behind the bar and pulled up a few bottles. “Peach Street, I assume?”

“That’ll do it.”

He poured me two fingers of the amber liquid and a glass of wine for himself. He sat down next to me on a barstool.

“So what’s going on?”

“Just felt like having a drink with my brother.”

“You don’t want to talk about anything? Therapy?”

I shook my head. I wasn’t even going to ask whether Steve Dugan had been in touch with him and Joe. “I am really looking forward to the time when not everything has to be about me. Tonight I just want to share a drink with my brother. Please, just accept that.”

Ryan clinked his glass to mine. “I can accept that, bro.”

We talked mainly about the ranch until we heard a frantic knocking at the front door.

Ryan stood. “At this hour?”

My first thought went to Dugan. As far I knew, my brothers hadn’t yet been questioned about Colin Morse’s disappearance, but why in the world would Steve be coming around after midnight on Friday night?

Ryan returned to the family room with my sister in tow.

“God, Talon,” Marj said. “Thank God I found you.”

“What’s going on?”

“First of all, Jade’s still at the house. She’s sleeping in her old bedroom tonight.”

“Okay. You pounded on the door to tell us that?”

She shook her head. “No. I have something way more important to tell you. I was just talking with Jade, and you know her boss, Larry Wade?”

“Yeah, she doesn’t like him much.”

“No, she said he’s unethical and creepy. And guess what else?”

“What?” Ryan and I asked in unison.

“Jade says he’s missing the littlest toe on his left foot.”

I let the words sink in for a moment. Larry Wade? Here I thought I might have found one of my abductors in Jade’s mother’s boyfriend, and another one might be her boss? How in the world had my abductors come so close to the woman I loved? I wasn’t protecting her very well.

Rage boiled within me.

Ryan sensed my fury. He placed his hand on my forearm. “Talon, a lot of people are probably missing a toe.”

“A lot of people here in Snow Creek?” I stood, agitated. “It just seems too coincidental, doesn’t it?” My nerves were on edge. My heart beat rapidly, the fight-or-flight instinct kicking in. I wanted to track down Larry Wade, question him, and then beat the life right out of him. “Jade’s in her own room?”

Marj nodded. “Talon, don’t bother her. She’s sleeping, and she’s just been through a lot with her mom—”

I stopped listening, striding away swiftly, out the door and back up the path to the main ranch house. When I walked in the back way, I ran through the kitchen and down the hallway to Jade’s room. I opened the door without knocking.

“Jade!” I yelled.

She sat up on the bed abruptly, her eyes full of sleep. “What? What is it?”

“It’s me,” I said. “I need you to wake up. I need you to wake up right now.”

“Talon, my God, what’s wrong?”

“I need you to tell me everything you know about Larry Wade.”

She yawned, rubbing eyes. “Right now? You know what I think of him. He’s a sleaze, and he’s unethical. What else is there to know?”

“He’s missing the pinky toe on his left foot, right?”

She nodded. “How did you know that?”

“Marj just told me. And I want to know why you didn’t.”

She blinked her eyes a few times. “Why I didn’t? Why would I? It’s not really anything to talk about. It doesn’t really come up in conversation. So he’s missing a toe. Who cares? Why do you care?”

“Suffice it to say that I do care. That little fact is important to me.”

“Why?”

“You said you’d be patient with me, Jade. I’m asking for patience now. I’m not ready to tell you why that’s important. But I need you to tell me, right now, everything you know about your boss.”

She yawned again and then took a drink of water from the glass on her nightstand. “This is obviously very important to you, Talon. So we can talk.” She turned on the lamp on her nightstand and then squinted against the light. “I don’t know much about him, but I do plan to do some investigating when I get into the office Monday. But in the meantime, there is something I know about Larry. It hasn’t been confirmed, but I’m pretty sure he’s your half-uncle.”